When Nicholas Simmons was photographed and identified as a homeless man huddling for warmth around a steam grate on a frigid Washington, D.C., street on Saturday, his car was less than two miles away in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol.

He had driven the car, a 1999 red Buick Century sedan, into the city sometime in the previous 72 hours after leaving the Greece home he shared with his parents in a hurry around 5 p.m. on New Year's Day, leaving behind his coat, wallet and cell phone, according to the Greece and Washington Metropolitan police departments.

Simmons abandoned his car near the intersection of 8th Street Southeast and Independence Avenue, along a strip of well-maintained row houses less than two miles from where he was photographed and later found outside the Federal Trade Commission Building at 6th Street Northwest and Constitution Avenue.

Nicholas Simmons, 20, of Greece, left, warms himself on a steam grate with three men by the Federal Trade Commission, just blocks from the Capitol, during frigid temperatures in Washington D.C. on Jan. 4. Jacquelyn Martin / AP

Nicholas Simmons, 20, of Greece, left, warms himself on a steam grate with three men by the Federal Trade Commission, just blocks from the Capitol, during frigid temperatures in Washington D.C. on Jan. 4. Jacquelyn Martin / AP

Nicholas Simmons, 20, of Greece, left, warms himself on a steam grate with three men by the Federal Trade Commission, just blocks from the Capitol, during frigid temperatures in Washington D.C. on Jan. 4. Jacquelyn Martin / AP

Natalie DiBlasio, a reporter at USA Today, played a role in helping Nick Simmons' family reunite on Jan. 5. Simmons had been missing since Jan. 1. His mother saw a picture of him in the USA Today section of the Democrat and Chronicle alongside an article that DiBlasio had written about the cold weather. Twitter

Jacquelyn Martin, An AP photographer, took the photo of Nick Simmons in Washington D.C. that ran in the Jan. 5. edition of the Democrat and Chronicle. His mother saw the photo of Simmons, who had been missing since Jan. 1, and he was eventually found and reunited with his family. Twitter

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Metropolitan Police spokesman Officer Araz Alali said Simmons was found around 2:45 p.m. Sunday and that his car was located two hours later around at 4:45 p.m. Alali said Simmons' relatives took possession of the car.

Nicholas A. Simmons was found after an AP photographer and USA Today photographer helped family and police find the missing 20-year-old.
David Andreatta and Todd Clausen

The now-famous photograph of Simmons and the serendipitous series of coincidences that led to his reunion with his family have people across the country in disbelief, talking of divine intervention and asking questions.

What became of the car? What prompted him to suddenly leave a cozy suburban Rochester home for the streets of a city 400 miles and nearly seven hours-drive away? Why did the disappearance of a 20-year-old man make headlines in the first place?

Only Simmons and perhaps those close to him have the best answers to the first two questions, and his parents and siblings are not speaking publicly.

Simmons was taken to George Washington University Hospital by Metropolitan Police youth division officers after being found near the U.S. Capitol Building by family friends and the Associated Press photographer who took his picture a day earlier. He was not listed as a patient there Monday afternoon, and the medical records department said he was only in the emergency room briefly on Sunday.

The best immediate answers come from the Greece and Washington police departments, which have closed their files on Simmons and do not intend to investigate the circumstances of his disappearance any further.

Greece Capt. Patrick Phelan said Monday that Simmons left his house quickly with an unknown amount of cash in hand.

"I can't say it was a fight, but there was some type of discussion with his parents before he left the house," Phelan said. "He left without his phone and wallet and without a jacket and he left quickly."

The circumstances of his departure were troubling enough for Greece police to file him as a missing person and then, two days later, take the uncharacteristic step of publicizing his disappearance to local media outlets, Phelan said.

Police asking news companies to publicize missing persons cases is not unusual, but they typically do not do so in cases of missing adults.

"In general, 20-year-old men and women have a right to go wherever they want," Phelan said. "A lot of times when an adult person leaves and has not been seen we won't take a missing persons report. And in most cases, we wouldn't publicize it unless we feel that something was out of the ordinary."

In Simmons' case, Phelan said, it was the combination of his leaving in a hurry with no coat and limited means to access additional cash and communicate with loved ones as temperatures outside plummeted that led investigators to ask his family whether they wanted to publicize his disappearance.

They did, and on Friday, Jan. 3, the Democrat and Chronicle and other media outlets published Simmons' photo and a brief description of the case.

Hundreds of people are reported missing to local law enforcement agencies each year. The vast majority of them are found quickly.

The Greece Police Department, for instance, filed 1,282 missing persons reports between 2011 and 2013, including 333 last year. Currently, just 25 of them remain open.

"The family was adamant that something wasn't right," Phelan said. "We took the totality of the circumstances and decided to take the missing persons investigation.

"It seems we were correct to do so, or this guy could still be sitting next to a grate on the street in D.C."